This story came from an Irish parrot that I know. He’s called Clancy – some of you will remember his Brothers. I once asked Clancy why Irish jokes are so silly. He said that they had to be stupid, otherwise the English wouldn’t understand them. Anyway, here is his story.

A group of professors of European languages were talking one evening at a conference. A Professor of Spanish asked a Professor of Irish, ‘I’ve often wondered, but would there be a word in Irish that is the equivalent of manyana?’ The Professor of Irish (who was a Scot, although that doesn’t matter) thought for a long time and eventually replied, ‘Manyana. There are a couple of Irish words that come close, but there is nothing at all that conveys the horrible urgency of that word.’

As some of you know, I am a trustee of this professional group which specialises in performing baroque and early music with very small forces, no copies and no conductor. Here is a link to the Group’s website – https://www.solomonsknotcollective.com

The group is performing the Bach Magnificat and two works by Bach’s Leipzig predecessors (Kuhnau’s Magnificat and a piece by Schelle) in Nottingham on the date mentioned above and it would be great to have a full St. Mary’s for the visit of this critically acclaimed group. Derek Tabron has kindly agreed to make flyers available at your rehearsals.

If you are fond of the Bach Magnificat, then this is an unmissable treat. The singers are excellent, the small forces result in great clarity of texture while the absence of copies removes any barrier between the performers and audience. The group has received excellent reviews over the last few years (including for a previous performance of this programme at St. John’s Smith Square) and received a 5 star review from The Times for its performance earlier this year of JS and JC Bach Motets.

I know that, being a trustee I would say this, but I honestly do think that this will be a great concert.

The Royal Centre is handling the ticketing for this concert and there is a link to the booking page from the Solomon website. If you go directly to the Royal Centre’s website, you need to click on the “other venues” link to find the Solomon’s Knot concert details and booking page.

I had not intended running this year, but at the committee meeting in September ‘we’ decided that I should. I would not be able to run until a few weeks before the event as Sue and I were off to Italy the morning after the committee meeting. On return I managed some long runs and felt reasonably confident that I could get round. Sunday 14th October was wet, and cool if not cold. I decided that I would run for the first few miles in an old jumper I could throw away and this was covered by a black dustbin liner to keep me reasonably dry. To my surprise, it all went well. The circuit had been nearly all reversed, which meant that what was previously a killer hill towards the end was now a fairly relaxed decent about a mile after the start. I also chatted to another runner for about seven miles which helped. I kept the bin liner on for about 3 miles and the jumper for six. I think I managed my run better this year and felt a lot more comfortable, although very wet towards the end.

Forty-four years after the death of the prolific English composer Eric Thiman (who had more than 1300 pieces published in his lifetime), a setting of Psalm 23 receives its premiere on May 11th.

The manuscript was recently unearthed amongst Thiman’s effects, and is definetely in his hand, but it is unusual for a number of reasons: (a) Thiman did not, as a rule, keep his manuscripts; (b) Thiman nearly always wrote sacred music with organ and secular music with piano; (c) the copy, though very clearly in Thiman’s hand, does not carry his name; (d) in several respects, the piece is stylistically rather different from much of Thiman’s music.

The most curious thing though is that where Thiman’s name would normally appear there is the word ‘Paulatim’. On investigation it turns out that ‘paulatim’ means ‘little by little’ in Latin, and Thiman’s niece Frances has made the possible connection with ‘Eric, or Little by Little’ the title of a popular Victorian children’s book by FW Farrar. Knowing how much Thiman and his brother loved humorous word-play, Frances wonders whether Paulatim was used as a code-name.

A possible explanation for the existence of this unpublished piece, and the use of ‘Paulatim’, is that it might have been intended as an entry for a composing competition, and that Thiman was disguising both his name and his style in order to throw the judges off the scent. The manuscript is dated July 1962 , when Thiman was very well-known, so entering a composing competition would seem odd, though, if he did do so (possibly for amusement, or maybe to fox the judges who might have been friends of his?), disguising himself would seem less so.

An attractive and lyrical piece, like all Thiman’s music in an approachable, conventional idiom, The Lord is my Shepherd receives it’s premiere conducted by Thiman’s archivist, Guy Turner.

I like jokes about politics and I love jokes about parrots, so this is one of my all-time favourites.

The First Lady and the Vice-President are talking and the First Lady says, ‘You know that Donald has bought a parrot, and that he has taught it two hundred difficult words?’ ‘Yes,’ says the VeeP, ‘But you know that he doesn’t understand any of them?’ ‘I do,’ says the First Lady, ‘And neither does the parrot.’

Bingham Choral Bursary winner, Mezzo-Soprano Emily Hodkinson, gave a very polished lunchtime recital at Southwell Minster on 13th July, as part of the Minster’s regular series. she sang an interesting programme mixing American and French Music, and including a number of pieces by female composers. A full quire gave her a great reception, especially after her energetic and humorous final number. The choir is looking forward to Emily performing with us at the autumn concert on November 17th.

When Guy Turner, Bingham Choral’s conductor, set out to write BYRON IN ITALY for the concert in July, he did not think it would result in an invitation to go to Italy!

The concert on July 7th involved a total of 140 voices, including Bingham Choral. also taking part were the Cathedral Youth Choir from Sarzana in Italy (Southwell’s twin town). They enjoyed singing the piece so much that they have invited Guy to travel to Italy in November to conduct a performance in Lerici Castle on the famous bay of poets (Byron spent time with Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley). This will be a special pleasure for him because he has visited Sarzana before with the Lay Clerks of Sourthwell Minster, and has been closely involved in hosting the youth choir when they have visited Southwell.

The concert, which will include other Byron settings also performed at our own concert, will be on November 2nd at 9.00pm for anyone who may be passing.